Dontnod Entertainment
DONTNOD Entertainment (stylised as DONTИOD) are an independent French video game development studio and the creators of the ''Life is Strange'' franchise. They have developed Remember Me (2013), Life is Strange (2015), wp:en:Vampyr (2018) and since Life is Strange self-describe as developing "AA" budget video games. The studio was founded by Oskar Guilbert, Hervé Bonin, Aleksi Briclot, Alain Damasio and Jean-Maxime Moris on June 28June 28, 2008, is the date Dontnod celebrated its 10 year anniversary, however depending on what constitutes as the founding, the date varies. May 1, 2018, is mentioned on their website., 2008, who previous worked for Criterion Games, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts. History Their first game and AAA release was the third-person action brawler titled Remember Me. The game was published by Capcom in June 2013, and is an action-adventure sci-fi game based around a member of a resistance group looking to recover her lost memories. In January, 2014, it was reported that the studio had filed for bankruptcy. CEO Oskar Guilbert dismissed reports that the studio was bankrupt and stated that earlier financial issues were no longer a problem for the company as they started to work on "new projects" which required judicial reorganization and new investments.Report: Remember Me studio Dontnod filing for bankruptcy (January 31, 2014) Life is Strange is their second game, published by Square Enix. An episodic game about young girl with rewind powers, it builds on a central mechanism from their first game, Remember Me, the memory remixes. Its first episode was released in January 2015; all five episodes were released by October 2015. Development on this game actually began in April 2013 with a small team of 15 people. This increased to a staff of 40 after a year when Square Enix stepped in to support production in June 2014.(reference needed) Two months after signing their publishing contract with Square Enix, Life Is Strange was announced for almost all consoles and PC at the Cologne Gamescom on August 11, 2014.Donntod Entertainment: Discover Our Story Their third game, Vampyr, released on June 5th, 2018, published by Focus Home Interactive. Vampyr is a role-playing game set in 1918, London. Dr. Jonathan Reid, a pioneer in blood transfusion methods, recently returned from the front at the end of WWI and turned into a vampire. The game follows Jonathan as he investigates the Spanish flu epidemic (or what looks like it) and searches for who turned him and why; all the while he struggles between his thirst for blood and his Hippocratic Oath to cure people. On July 27, 2016, the formation of Dontnod Eleven (formerly HeSaw) as a sister studio to Dontnod was announced, and that Dontnod helped them developing the side-scrolling shooter Battlecrew: Space Pirates. "The goal of our collaboration is to help those talented independent developers and benefit from their know-how", CEO Oskar Guilbert said.Dontnod deepens collaboration with Hesaw (July 28, 2016)Dontnod Eleven isn't catering to Life is Strange fans, and that’s the point (August 19, 2016) Michel Koch said in an interview in July 2016 that they have two teams at Dontnod, one working on Vampyr and one working on an exciting unannounced game, which later turned out to be Life is Strange 2 and was revealed on May 18, 2017. It was also revealed that the new season has been in development since the release of the Limited Edition in January 2016.Life Is Strange interview – live action web series and sequel talk (Metro.co.uk) (July 27, 2016) On August 22, 2017, it was revealed a new partnership with Bandai Namco for the creation of a brand-new IP on a new narrative adventure experience that has been in development since 2016. The story was said to take place in a fictional city in the US and will include a "fair dose of investigation". This new title is developed by a new team of senior devs. Hervé Hoerdt, VP of marketing and digital at Bandai Namco, said that they are aiming for triple-A quality, an emotional experience with Investigation and psychologically deep characters with their partnership with Dontnod.EXCLUSIVE: Bandai Namco partners with Life is Strange studio Dontnod on new narrative adventure IP (August 22, 2017) On June 8, the name was reveled to be .Bandai Namco press release In June, 2017, it was announced that a prequel to Dontnod's Life is Strange was being developed by Denver based studio Deck Nine Games partnered with publisher Square Enix. Reportedly Dontnod was not involved in the game's production. From the beginning until the launch, Deck Nine were the only ones behind the game with some help from Square Enix, including some of the developers that worked on the original game, such as Square Enix's Game Designer Alejandro Arque. However, they were given access to Dontnod's game assets and original files that contain character arcs and backgrounds.Public statement by the Life is Strange Community Manager. They communicated with Dontnod and flew to Paris to let them test out the gameplay.‘Life is Strange: Before the Storm’ developers reveal reason for prequel choice (October 4, 2017) Dontnod however received special thanks in the credits of the first episode of Before the Storm, saying, "A very special thank you to all of the amazing developers at DONTNOD. We've been honored to continue the amazing work you started in Arcadia Bay." In April, 2018, plans for an IPO were announced.Reddit post by /u/Maczimedontnod-bourse.com On May 24, 2018, the company was listed on Euronext.Euronext A free self-contained spin-off game that serves as a precursor to the events of Life is Strange 2, called The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, was announced on June 10, 2018 and released on June 26, 2018. It follows Chris Eriksen, a 9-year-oldThe initial marketing messaging incorrectly stated his age to be 10. Square Enix's and Dontnod's Community Managers both have confirmed that he is 9, close to 10. The Steam product description also mentions this age. boy who dreams of adventure. Chris is a character Dontnod came up with while working on Life is Strange 2, but they wanted to do something more in-depth with him.The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit will pick up three years after Life is Strange (June 15, 2018) The announcement blog postAnnouncing the Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit for Captain Spirit from June 10, 2018, showed Square Enix and Dontnod Entertainment's interest in further expanding the Life is Strange universe: On June 28, 2018, Dondnot celebrated their 10 year anniversary. They shared a video featuring all of their games with the following description: On December 20, 2018, Square Enix conducted a survey about Life is Strange 2, the Life is Strange franchise in general and its direction. One of the questions which asks to "imagine the future of Life is Strange" implies interest to work on a third season of the franchise. The options gave insight into some of the directions that Square Enix may take Life is Strange, including introducing totally different character types, and even considering an open-world setting. All options were as follows: new cast of characters; new story, setting and power; lead characters with a minority background; male protagonists; sci-fi settings; open-world setting; with a child as a lead character; with an older lead character; a game you can play with friends and family.Life is Strange 3: Square Enix Probes Community With Revealing Survey (December 20, 2018) Known Team * Oskar Guilbert (Founder, President) * Alain Damasio (Founder, Writer) * Jean-Maxime Moris (Founder, Creative Director) * Aleksi Briclot (Founder, Illustrator) * Hervé Bonin (Founder, Production Designer) * Stéphane Beauverger (Writer, Remember Me) * Luc Baghadoust (Producer, Life is Strange) * Michel Koch (Concept Artist, Art Director, Life is Strange) * Jean-Luc Cano (Writer, Life is Strange) * Christian Divine (Writer, Life is Strange) * Raoul Barbet (Director, Life is Strange) * Amaury Balandier (Lead Environment Artist, Life is Strange) * Thomas Defianas (Environment Artist, Life is Strange) During the development of Life is Strange and following installments, several people from Square Enix joined the development team at Dontnod: * Alejandro Arque (Game Designer at Square Enix) * Scott Blows (Community Manager at Square Enix, until December 2015) * Toby Palm (Community Manager at Square Enix, since 2015) * Anne Chanteau (Communications Manager at Dontnod) The voice over production was directed by Philip Bache from . Trivia *The word "dontnod" is a palindrome, meaning it is spelled the same backwards as it is forwards. *The word "dontnod" is in block letters. *The laterally or vertically inverted letter "N" in DONTNOD Entertainment's company logo appears in the Cyrillic alphabet and is equivalent to the letter "I" in the English/Latin alphabet. *On January 27, 2015, they had a Reddit AMA for Life is Strange. *The Weatherman, a character in Life is Strange, is based off of and modeled by CEO Guilbert Oskar, as confirmed on Life is Strange's official Twitter.Twitter post *There is graffiti on a shack near the lighthouse in Life is Strange of a symbol that represents the characters in a French novel by Alain Damasio, one of the co-founders of Dontnod Entertainment, named La Horde du Contrevent. Wind is a recurring theme in the novel, and upon looking at the graffiti, Max says, "Weird, those glyphs remind me of... the wind." *There are several references to the lead environment artist Amaury Balandier hidden in Life is Strange. A member of the 2013 Yearbook Committee at Blackwell Academy is called Amaury; the soda cans in Chloe's room are a brand called "Pr. Amaury"; Victoria's tablet is fabricated by the brand "Amaury"; and one of Jefferson's photographs that is displayed on the Blackwell campus shows the name "Amaury" in the background. Interviews TBA Gallery Dontnod Office Dontnod Entertainment Office.jpg|Dontnod's office. Harikaw_&_Faithcael_with_Dontnod_(Michel_Koch,_Luc_Baghadoust_and_Raoul_Barbet).jpg|Dontnod together with Harikaw & Faithcael Cosplay at the Dontnod office (July, 2016). E3 Events Captainspiritinterview raoulbarbet.jpg|Raoul Barbet at E3 2018.IGN Japan (June 19, 2018) Gamescom Events August 22 2018 Gamescom.jpg|Jean-Luc Cano, Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch at Gamescom 2018.DÉCOUVREZ NOTRE INTERVIEW DES DÉVELOPPEURS DE LIFE IS STRANGE 2 (August 26, 2018) Slides Slides shown at a BAFTA showcase.Life is Strange BAFTA Showcase (July 10, 2015) Life_is_strange_bafta_0001-pc-games.jpg|What if? Life_is_strange_bafta_0002-pc-games.jpg|Flowchart of the choices when David comes into Chloe's room. Logos DontnodLogo_LIS1Style.png|The logo used in Life is Strange. DontnodLogo_VampyerStyle.png|The logo used in Vampyr. DontnodLogo_CSStyle.png|The logo used in Captain Spirit. Videos Interviews Life is Strange BAFTA Showcase Interview with DONTNOD Entertainment Quo Vadis 2016 Life is Strange - Dialog between Raoul Barbet and Luc Badhagoust Behind the Scenes The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit - E3 2018 The Awesome Development of Captain Spirit PS4 Other DONTNOD 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY External Links * Official website * Investor relationship website * Facebook * Twitter * YouTube * References Notes de:Dontnod Entertainment es:DONTNOD Entertainment pt-br:DONTNOD Entertainment ru:Dontnod Entertainment Category:Life is Strange Category:Behind the Scenes Category:Developers Category:DONTNOD Entertainment